Introduction Best Free Email Software For Windows

Email marketing is indeed crucial For any small company to get right. Best Free Email Software For Windows

And for good reason. Implemented Correctly, it will certainly become the main tool in your business for generating relationships and creating sales.

In accordance with Capterra, the Average return on $1 spent on email advertising is 44.25!

This is why you should take your Time and invest in a good email marketing software for your company.

If you are a blogger, then the Consensus autoresponder of choice was Aweber or even MailChimp. Sign up to any email list, and there was a fantastic chance they had been using one of the two.

For Quite a While, the standard Feature set of Aweber worked perfectly fine. All entrepreneurs needed it to do was send emails out and integrate with their favorite tools like LeadPages and Click Funnels.

Nowadays however, email marketing automation has Become more and more important.

For example, Infusionsoft utilized To be the go-to service for big-name bloggers and companies wanting more innovative email automation capabilities.

The problem with Infusionsoft Though is the fact that it is a hugely complicated system to learn. Couple that with a hefty price tag along with a first setup cost put it out of reach for most bloggers.

But things are changing for the Better and ConvertKit has emerged among the more popular email services which may provide advertising automations without the huge price.

ConvertKit Disadvantages

– Can’t create super advanced marketing automations.

– Limited customization of forms.

– Difficult to use email templates.

– Divide testing limited to subject lines only.

– Doesn’t work well for live webinars or events.

– No free trial.

ConvertKit Benefits

– Slick, intuitive interface.

– Works great with incorporating content updates to your site.

– Tag-based (versus listing based like MailChimp)

– Really fine visual automation editor.

– They don’t charge you for duplicate subscribers.

– Can add conditional content with tags in mails.

– Easily automobile resend broadcasts into un-opens.

– Automatic double opt-in for lead magnets.

– 365 days per year, 24 hours per day support through live chat and email.

Description of ConvertKit

ConvertKit is an email Service provider that is specifically marketed towards bloggers, podcasters, and other companies who are building crowds.

It was started by Nathan Barry who I was already a fan of, being a regular reader of his blog.

For a short moment, it had been Rebranded to Seva, until they reverted back into ConvertKit.

What is intriguing about ConvertKit is how transparent Nathan is about the whole procedure of accepting ConvertKit from scratch to earning $30k a month at 2015. In 2018, they’ve 19,500 busy clients and doing over $1 million a month.

We are basically getting a front Row chair on his trip to building a successful SaaS product. It’s pretty cool because we get to see about both the highs and the lows.

Even if you don’t Wind up using ConvertKit, his blog articles are always interesting and I suggest giving Nathan a followup.Best Free Email Software For Windows

What is not So great about ConvertKit

Poor Part #1: Restricted set of triggers/actions for advanced automations

Here are the causes available on ConvertKit.

Compare that with ActiveCampaign.

This means you can’t really construct The same sort of complex automations that you can in ActiveCampaign or Drip.

You also won’t receive advanced Features in ConvertKit like page monitoring and lead scoring.

And I miss having list management Activities like unsubscribing people so you may do routine list hygiene.

Poor Part #2: Restricted A/B Testing

A/B testing is a very important Feature to have for any email service. Doing this regularly will help you improve your open and conversion rates.

ConvertKit Permits You to split Test your subject lines such as this:

Which is helpful, for sure.

But there’s no way to divide test For things like delivery time, email body content, or automations.

Bad Part #3: Not a ton of customization choices for forms and templates

I really do like the types which ConvertKit provides. They are clean and nice.

But the form editor is quite Restricted. Besides colour, there is not much you can alter. For instance, there’s no method to alter the font for any of the text.

Unless you’re willing to add in Your CSS.

This is not a big deal for me personally, as I utilize Thrive Leads for my own forms. However, for people who do not utilize a third party instrument, the lack of customization could be an issue.

Bad Part #4: No email templates

I do not personally send out email Newsletter type emails, so this isn’t that big a deal with me personally.

But I know some businesses do need This, that is why MailChimp remains popular.

ConvertKit has a few email Templates, however, the procedure for using them is quite dull. You’ll need to muck about with HTML and CSS which not everybody wants to do.

So you will want to look elsewhere If that is what you need.

Some of The Best Attributes

Cool Characteristic #1: Seamless Visual Automation Editor

I really like the ConvertKit’s Visual automation editor. It is a joy to use, especially when you compare it to a number of the other automation editors out there.

That is because ConvertKit makes Editing every step on your automation workflow easy.

Let us say one of those measures in Your automation is sending an emailaddress. With other providers, editing the email will take you out of the automation editor and into another email editor webpage. This may cause you to eliminate context of what you’re doing.

With ConvertKit, what’s Done inside the automation editor . So clicking on an email step will allow you to edit it inline. And you can also edit your forms in precisely the exact same way.

It’s a great experience and it Puts other automation editors to pity.

Cool Feature #2: Straightforward Segmentation within mails

Another useful feature is ConvertKit’s ability to segment individual emails using conditional tags.

So let us say you wanted to make One email to your list, however, include a bonus coupon to your VIP customers. You can do that in ConvertKit such as this:

Pretty cool, right?

The syntax may look a little Strange to non-techies and you also may have difficulty remembering exactly what to type when you go to use it.

To help with this, you can click On the Personalize menu in the editor toolbar and click on the Subscriber’s tags menu item. ConvertKit will then insert the right code snippet template straight into your email.

All You Have to do is alter to Your tag, and upgrade the content for the two branches.

Cool Feature #3: Automobile resend broadcasts to un-opens

Each time you send out a Broadcast email, a certain percentage of people will not open it. Hubspot says advertising and marketing emails just get 25% email open prices.

Perhaps you did not write a good Headline, or they were too busy in the opportunity to take a look.

ConvertKit has a neat feature Where you can resend your broadcast to the people who didn’t open it the first time.

This can be found in stats page, Where you will see a button named Resend to Unopens.

Pressing It’s Going to Permit You to Re-send your email again, where you’re able to make modifications to your Subject Line should you desire.

I like this because you are able to Maximize the eyeballs you receive for every broadcast you ship out.

Cool Feature #4: Lead Magnet Double Opt-in

There are disagreements everywhere About if you should use double breasted vs individual opt-in.

The main reason why you need Double opt-in is the fact that it is going to improve your email list quality. Nevertheless, the main argument against is the extra step will hurt your conversions.

All this is accurate.

But if you’re using lead Magnets, then ConvertKit can handle double opt-in for you automatically like this.

After the user clicks the download Button to get their lead magnet, they are automatically chosen. So you get the best of both worlds! Best Free Email Software For Windows

Details of ConvertKit

ConvertKit Includes 5 major building blocks. Let’s take a glance at each.

Forms

Forms are the way you get readers Into your account. ConvertKit permits you to produce both kinds and landing pages.

Forms may be embedded on any webpage Of your website, or via a typical modal popup. Landing pages are its own dedicated webpage hosted on ConvertKit’s servers or your own site with a WordPress plugin.

There are 3 Chief styles to select From for regular types. Full, Minimum, and Clean.

As mentioned above, the kind Editor doesn’t provide you lots of customization options, although the built-in fashions do have a nice clean look .

Landing pages also only have 3 Styles to select from and the exact same limited customization options.

Automations

To tie everything together, let us Discuss ConvertKit’s automations.

In ConvertKit, subscribers can Enter an automation in 4 different ways.

Throughout a form, getting labeled, Having a customized field upgraded, or from a buy.

From there, you can add an Event, Action or Condition.

Actions are the easiest to understand. The most common activities are incorporating a subscriber to one of your email sequences, remove or add a tag, setting a customized field, or introducing a delay.

Conditions let you branch your Automation according to a label or custom area.

So you could use branching to Have your VIP clients go down 1 route and your non-VIPs go down a separate path similar to this:

Last, you have Occasions, which pull your contributor Forward to the next step in the automation once an event happens.

Let’s say one of your readers Is on day 2 of the 5 part email arrangement, which will be trying to make them purchase your product.

You can add an event to your Automation using the Add tag occasion. If on day 2, the subscriber purchases your product (and you label them as a customer), it will pull them out of the current email sequence they were in.

Which is useful because you won’t Invite them together with the previous 3 mails in your order (by asking them to buy) because they are presently a client of yours.

ConvertKit’s automation editor is Extremely fast and easy to use. As mentioned above, I really like the capability to seamlessly edit emails and forms right within the editor itself.

It makes for a much greater Expertise when creating new automations.

Broadcasts

Sending one-off emails in ConvertKit is simple.

Since there are no lists in ConvertKit, whenever you send a broadcast email you’ll want to use their filter mechanism to target that which you’ll be sending your air to.

You’ll most often use the Subscribed to filter at which you Can segment your air to certain forms, sequences, tags or products.

The email editor is only your Standard HTML email editor, with a few additional choices. Click on the A/B button near the topic line and you’re able to start a split test between a few different headlines.

The customization button may be Used to input in merge tags into your email or to use the in-email label segmentation I spoke about above.{ Best Free Email Software For Windows

Sequences

Sequences are where you can Create autoresponders, a series of emails that get sent to your readers in a predefined schedule of your own choice.

On the left, you’ll notice all of the Mails on your show along with when they’ll be routed out. You can drag emails around on the left to quickly alter the order they are sent.

To the right, you’ll see the same Email editor since you possibly get for Broadcasts. So the same features apply, except you can’t split test subject lines .

Subscribers

Unlike MailChimp or Aweber, ConvertKit is tag and not list predicated. This usually means that you have a single database of readers in your ConvertKit account.

To set subscribers together, You can use tags or create sections. With segments, you can do things such as developing a set of contacts which subscribed before a particular date.

Or group subscribers by location Or any custom field you make.

ConvertKit also enables you to drill Down to any specific subscriber you have. You can see things like what sequences they’re on, what emails you have sent them, and if you are performing e-commerce, what goods they have purchased from you.

What Else Is there to understand?

How is Their service?

ConvertKit’s support is good from My experience. While there’s no phone service like Aweber has, they offer email and live chat 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

Email response time ranges from 2-3 hours in my experience. But live chat is usually pretty responsive.

Do they Have an active community?

They have a Facebook group Known as The ConvertKit Family. It currently has 6k members and averages around 6 posts a day.

It’s a Fantastic spot to get your Questions answered by additional ConvertKit users.

What Integrations do they offer?

ConvertKit includes a ton of third-party integrations. I now rely 86 in the time of this review, such as with tools such as LeadPages, ClickFunnels, SamCart, and Shopify.

You can find the Complete list Of all ConvertKit integrations here.

How Good is ConvertKit for direct magnets?

ConvertKit is amazing for direct magnets. Not only can it host your lead magnets to you, the automatic double opt-in is a fantastic feature.

How Good is ConvertKit for eCommerce?

ConvertKit is becoming quite a bit better when it comes to eCommerce. They simply launched a brand new feature that’s going to allow you to monitor every purchase made by a subscriber.

What makes this cool is that you just Can then begin automations according to a buy.

It is only working together with Shopify and Teachable at The moment, but this has a great deal of potential once they get things working with all e-commerce integrations.

Can it Handle live events or webinars?

To Manage live events and Webinars, you have to have the ability to send emails out at a particular date and time. It is normal for webinars to send out multiple emails at particular times until it begins, for example 24 hours before, 8 hours 10 minutes before, etc..

ConvertKit can handle live events And webinars through broadcasts just. That isn’t too suitable because then you have to schedule all your emails manually.

It’d be preferable if ConvertKit gave you a way to send emails at a particular date and time. But that is currently not possible through sequences or automations.

Can they Have an affiliate program?

Yes, ConvertKit Provides the 30% recurring commissions as part of its affiliate program. The affiliate program is hosted on Ambassador.

Alexis is their affiliate Director, and she really does a wonderful job of keeping you updated about the various promotions they are running.

Who’s Switching around to ConvertKit?

ConvertKit has been growing by Leaps and bounds, and I am reading about people switching to ConvertKit every day.

Listed below are a few examples of Bloggers that have switched over to ConvertKit in their previous email service:

– Why I Switched To ConvertKit: The Unofficial Definitive Review

– Why I Switched From Aweber Into ConvertKit

– 10 Reasons Why I Switched From Aweber to ConvertKit

ConvertKit Vs MailChimp

MailChimp has a few Things going for it ConvertKit. It is cheaper, and it has better email templates.

Plus ConvertKit has tags that Gives you better flexibility for segmenting your readers. MailChimp is very much lacking there.

ConvertKit Vs Aweber

The only reason I would Urge Aweber versus ConvertKit is in case you’re purely performing affiliate marketing/CPA offers. Then, it may be more difficult to get approval on ConvertKit, and Aweber are your best bet.

Aweber can be slightly cheaper Than ConvertKit.

Otherwise, ConvertKit is much better Than Aweber at pretty much everything else, such as automations.

ConvertKit Vs ActiveCampaign

This is a much tougher comparison. ActiveCampaign is a great email marketing software, with tons of features for power users. You can do more with its own automations, and it has better split testing capacities.

Price wise, it is cheaper than ConvertKit at reduced subscriber levels, but it gets more expensive as you add an increasing number of contacts.

However, ConvertKit is simpler to use, With a nicer and crisper interface.

Which one you should select depends On your business needs. Do you want something which just works for regular email marketing activities, without a ton of work? Afterward ConvertKit could make a fantastic option.

But if you want more advanced or Complex automations, then ActiveCampaign is the top way to go.

Pricing

ConvertKit’s uses the same tiered Pricing model as many other email services do. So the price goes up the more subscribers you have.

In comparison to its competitors, ConvertKit’s pricing comes out at the middle of the bunch at lower subscriber levels.

But as you get beyond 10,000 Subscribers and beyond, ConvertKit really doesn’t jump up as much in price as a number of the rest.

Costs below are if you cover Monthly, but should you pre-pay annual, you receive two months of service free.

ConvertKit does not normally Offer a free trial. But occasionally for promotions that are different, you will notice them promoting a 30-day trial.

I’ve never seen some ConvertKit Discounts. They do offer a wonderful 30-day money back guarantee, however.Best Free Email Software For Windows

Conclusion

When I originally wrote this ConvertKit review, it was an up and coming email marketing service.

But three Decades later, ConvertKit Has firmly established itself as one of the major players in the email marketing space.

Marketing automation is your Future for email. It will help you target your clients better, leading to higher conversion and earnings.

What ConvertKit does is create Marketing automations really accessible to non-techie men and women. It also provides you with a headache-free user experience.

While it Might Not Be the Strongest email marketing software on the market, it doesn’t aim to be. You need to understand it’s an email service that’s geared towards bloggers and other content creators.

Just make sure you understand its Limits, and choose whether you’re ok with it.